Focal Point
Focke-Wulf Fw 190
Jim Morrow (email: jimretract@yahoo.com) purchased his 96-inch wingspan Ralph Saxon Fw 190 kit years ago at the West Coast Festival held at Castle Air Force Base in California.
Jim installed split flaps on the 37-pound model before fiberglassing the wing. With the flaps deployed, it slows nicely. The Sierra Precision retracts and spinner fan add to its scalelike appearance and aid in cooling the GT80 engine. Graphics are from CFC Graphics, while the three-blade propeller is from Zinger. The pilot figure is from Aces of Iron.
“I can understand why the Fw 190 was so devastating to Allied bombers,” Jim wrote. “The thing is nimble and fast with absolutely no bad habits. I would like to install a larger radial engine in the future. Love the sound of them.”
Jim took the photo at the Woodland/Davis Aeromodelers warbird event in Davis, California.
Ryan STA/PT-22
Jeff Randolph (Morris Plains, New Jersey; email: jrand01@gmail.com) submitted a photo of the Ryan STA he scratch-built as a PT-22 (the same airplane that actor Harrison Ford crashed in March 2015).
Using Sig Manufacturing plans, Jeff covered the PT-22’s fuselage with UltraCote and the wings with Solartex. The airplane is powered with an Evolution 1.00NX engine. The fiberglass wheel pants and cowl were supplied by Fiberglass Specialties and the decals were from Cal-Grafx. Jeff noted that fabricating the wing struts and installing all of the flying wires was challenging.
Jeff has modeled and flown RC airplanes for approximately 15 years.
FedEx Cessna
Art Hastings (Quartzsite, Arizona; email: abhazi@yahoo.com) sent in this different view of his aircraft. Art wrote:
“Years ago, I took a photo of a FedEx Cessna Caravan and, without plans, set out to build one. Wow, what an undertaking! This one was two years in the making. I built a pilot model first, but it was way too light in construction and did not take the rigors of landing.
“This FedEx Cessna caravan weighs in at slightly over 13 pounds, with a 77-inch wingspan, length of 70 inches, and an overall height of 25 inches. The interior is open and has a capacity of over 1,200 cubic inches. Power is an E-flite [Power] 60 with a 14 x 12 propeller. [It’s] all balsa and plywood with an oak reinforcement for the nose gear that extends back 12 inches, connected to three of the plywood mainframes.
“[The FedEx Cessna] lands fast. Flaps are in the future. [The] maiden flight [was in] January 2015,” Art wrote.
Art is a charter member of the Quartzsite Desert Flyers.
Goldberg Tigers
J. Robert Hannon (Lexington, South Carolina) submitted this photo of himself and his two Goldberg Tigers that he built from plans. The airplane on the left is powered by an electric motor, while the one on the right is powered by an Enya .40 engine. Both are guided by a Futaba radio. J. Robert said that both Tigers fly really well.
“I am 86 years old,” he wrote, “[I] have been building airplanes since I was nine years old.”
Canard Sticks
Joe Mariencheck (email: jmariencheck@comcast.net) and his cousin, Danny Johnson, found plans for their Canard Sticks online. The 60-inch wingspan airplanes use 40-size electric motors with 60-amp ESCs and 4S 4,000 mAh batteries. Danny and Joe both made modifications with the radio gear installation.
Neither aircraft has rudder control per the plans. Danny modified the rudders from the original stick style and added a movable motor mount for yaw control, with little impact on flight. Joe took a more traditional approach with the rudder design.
Danny uses Spektrum for control, while Joe uses Futaba. Both airplanes are covered with MonoKote.
Joe noted that the first flights were smooth. “Neither of us had really flown canard airplanes before, so it was pretty exciting to see them in the air. They both drew a lot attention on the flightline.”
Joe and Danny are members of the Memphis Prop Busters RC club.
60-Size Electric Airplane
Marty Meyer (New Rochelle, New York) wrote:
“Although I am quickly approaching the age of 89, I still enjoy designing, building, and flying radio-controlled model planes. I have enclosed a photo of my latest design, which I have flown.”
Marty’s 60-size electric airplane has a 55-inch wingspan with a 578-square-inch wing area and is all-wood construction with UltraCote covering. The airfoil is fully symmetrical, and Marty wrote that it performs great Pattern maneuvers.
The flying weight, with two three-cell 4,000 mAh LiPo battery packs in series, is 7 pounds, 2 ounces. Marty uses a 60-size E-flite outrunner motor with a 14 x 10 electric propeller.
Mysterion
Bill Bryan (Hamilton, Ohio; email: bbbryanohio@gmail.com) built the Al Clark-designed Mysterion that was featured in the January 2015 issue of Model Aviation, with plans supplied through the AMA Plans Service. “After flying 40- to 60-size glow aircraft for years, I wanted to build an easy-to-transport electric aircraft that would do all the maneuvers I had been used to.”
Bill described the building process as challenging enough to make it interesting and satisfying. He used the same electronics, spinner, and propeller as shown in the article. He finished the airplane with UltraCote and graphics patterns from Kirby’s Kustom Graphics.
“Flying is a pleasure!” Bill noted. “Great tracking, good control at all speeds, and landing on grass is quite easy. It is just what I was looking for.”
Bill is a member of the Greater Cincinnati Radio Control Club.
Reaction 54
Mike Mauk (email: michael-mauk@comcast.net) built a Reaction 54 jet from a Bruce Tharpe Engineering (BTE) kit, covered it with UltraCote, and powered it with a KingTech 100G turbine that starts and runs on diesel. The air retracts are by Robart Manufacturing.
Stock-built with a fully sheeted wing, the Reaction 54 uses eight channels of a Spektrum AR9110 receiver with Hitec HS 5645 MG servos on all flight controls. The jet weighs 18 pounds dry.
“This is my first jet,” Mike wrote. “[It’s] a great plane to get your turbine waiver on … I was able to do the trim flight and the waiver qualification without a problem on the first two flights of the plane.
“BTE produces the best kit I’ve ever built in over 40 years of building!”
